Doug Smith Thinks a Roster Blowup is Likely

Bye, Rasho.

See ya, Patrick.

I can say with pretty much certainty that those are two fellows Ė both good guys whoíll be missed in the whole Ďhey, whatís happeningí conversational vein Ė who will have walked off the Air Canada Centre court last night for the last time as Raptors but it begs the question, who else is gone?

Of course, Chris Bosh is the big question and we all know thereíll be more than enough speculation about him for the next little while that itís not worth getting into it today.

But how about a couple of others? As I watched Antoine Wright walk to the elevator on crutches after it was all over, I figure that might the last time I see him around the Raptors locker room because heís a free agent and Iím not sure thereís room for him, as Iíve mentioned a few times before.

But what about Turk? Or one of the point guards? Or Reggie Evans?

Think theyíll all be back?

If I had to guess, and thatís all it is right now, I would think Bryan would want to give Turk another year to redeem himself but I do think heíll move one of his point guards and I am pretty certain heíll try hard to move Reggie sometime this summer.

So thatíd make another five guys at least gone from the roster and if Bosh goes, thatíll make six. And letís say they canít find a contract number that suits Amir Johnson, also a free agent, and that promising young big moves, too.

Thatís seven guys gone, almost half the roster, and here we go again with the blowing up.

Although a blow-up is likely in the books, no wonder this team goes nowhere season to season. We have no cohesiveness and when you change your roster a considerable amount every year you don't allow yourself a team that can mesh together as one. While I agree and that changes need to be made, its time for BC to earn his pay, smarten up and make changes where guys can grow together moving forward instead introducing 6 to 7 new players every bloody season.

The last off-season changes were a bid to keep Bosh. This years changes will be part of a rebuild. I think things will slow down a little after this summer. The summer after they won the division Colangelo had little activity. I think it was because he didn't want to tamper with something that was working and he had no real pressures on him like he does now.

Why is that? Why can't he be a supporting #2 option like Rashard Lewis? He already posts better numbers than Rashard at half the cost. You place him with a traditional center who can clean the boards and suddenly his perceived impact might greatly increase. Bargnani is a building block, not the cornerstone.

Why is that? Why can't he be a supporting #2 option like Rashard Lewis? He already posts better numbers than Rashard at half the cost. You place him with a traditional center who can clean the boards and suddenly his perceived impact might greatly increase. Bargnani is a building block, not the cornerstone.

(1) The main difference between Lewis and Bargnani is their defensive play. Lewis is an above average defensive power forward who plays good-to-very good man-to-man defense and very good team defense whereas Bargnani is a below average man-to-man defender and a very poor team defender. Consequently, Bargnani's positive offensive contributions become negated by his lousy defense while Lewis adds positive defensive contributions on top of his positive offensive contributions.

(2) Lewis is a poor example because he has a horrific contract and the only reason Orlando is able to be successful with him is their ownership's willingness to pay ridiculous luxury tax costs to bail out their GM's mistakes + the individual brilliance of one Dwight Howard.

Making decisions based on Lewis' situation without having those two variables in place will lead to disaster.

(3) Lewis is the third or fourth option offensively for the Magic. Bargnani would be a very effective offensive player if in a similar role, pecking order, offensively ... but is, to date, incapable of being a #2 option because of his reliance on others to create his scoring opportunities. Not a go-to scorer. A complementary + highly effective weapon offensively.

Did you watch the game last night? Andrea was driving to the hoops like he owned the court. I think he can create on his own. He just needs to become more aggressive. I also think he has all the tools to be an excellent defender. He just needs the right teacher and to hold himself accountable on that end. I think he's an excellent piece to a core group if he's used properly.

Did you watch the game last night? Andrea was driving to the hoops like he owned the court. I think he can create on his own. He just needs to become more aggressive. I also think he has all the tools to be an excellent defender. He just needs the right teacher and to hold himself accountable on that end. I think he's an excellent piece to a core group if he's used properly.

If one feels that Bargnani has that type of potential then the Raptors should keep him.

Bargs major problem is that he can't put a full season together. Everyone forgets the first half the year when he was killing opponents inside and out. When his three is dropping he is as dangerous a weapon as there is.

Everyone keeps trying to turn him into something he is not. Why can't we just accept that he is a streaky shooter/scorer who can at times be tantalizing and others infuriating. He needs to improve his focus and effort level. He will never be a great rebounder so lets stop trying to force him to be. I think his biggest obstacle is that coaches keep trying to force him into a mold instead of just constantly tweaking what they've got.

I also understand I am extremely biased towards Bargs and will defend him until he abandons me in the fox hole.

I can live with Bargnani's rebounding so long as (1) His defense gets to the good-to-very good level at the very least (2) He grows more as a go-to scorer and becomes more difficult to take out of games

It's too difficult for a big man to have a consistent positive influence on his team when he is so poor on the backboards + well below average defensively. Too many negative contributions. They wipe out too many of the positives that Bargnani does bring to the table offensively.

(1) The main difference between Lewis and Bargnani is their defensive play. Lewis is an above average defensive power forward who plays good-to-very good man-to-man defense and very good team defense whereas Bargnani is a below average man-to-man defender and a very poor team defender. Consequently, Bargnani's positive offensive contributions become negated by his lousy defense while Lewis adds positive defensive contributions on top of his positive offensive contributions.

(2) Lewis is a poor example because he has a horrific contract and the only reason Orlando is able to be successful with him is their ownership's willingness to pay ridiculous luxury tax costs to bail out their GM's mistakes + the individual brilliance of one Dwight Howard.

Making decisions based on Lewis' situation without having those two variables in place will lead to disaster.

(3) Lewis is the third or fourth option offensively for the Magic. Bargnani would be a very effective offensive player if in a similar role, pecking order, offensively ... but is, to date, incapable of being a #2 option because of his reliance on others to create his scoring opportunities. Not a go-to scorer. A complementary + highly effective weapon offensively.

sorry, but bargnani is a good player and you're wrong on this.

Apollo wrote:

Did you watch the game last night? Andrea was driving to the hoops like he owned the court. I think he can create on his own. He just needs to become more aggressive. I also think he has all the tools to be an excellent defender. He just needs the right teacher and to hold himself accountable on that end. I think he's an excellent piece to a core group if he's used properly.

where as you, you are right. i see his aggresiveness come out sometimes and i think once someone triggers him somehow he'll be really good.

If Bargs was playing PF next to Dwight, pretty sure he'd be considered an elite defender as well. Turk went from the top defensive squad on the magic to one of the worst in history, that tells me that Turk was being hidden in Orland and exposed in Toronto. Bargs defense is a product of the system he's in.

Give him an improved Derozan and Weems who can actually keep thier man in front of them and fast rotations and have Amir swooping to help the weak side and Bargs will be just fine.

Bosh has no weakside help, he doesn't have a quick enough first jump to alter shots or a high enough defensive IQ to anticipate the play. Amir is constantly rotating over and exploding at defenders. The dude was not born to keep his feet on the ground.

Perfect example is the GS game. GS had the breakaway with 10 seconds left and Bosh ran at Chris Hunter who passed off to an open Curry who had an easy dunk when Amir swooped in and seemingly got all ball, but got whistled because he has no court cred yet.

djezus dave bargnani is raptors best 1 on 1 defender ...
what ruins his defense is him constantly having to switch and pick up the pg or wing because everything passes our perimeter defenders
calderon jack derozan weems hedo beli get constantly beat off the dribble leaving our bigs constantly running behind
against the bulls bargnani had to defend rose more then he had to defend any big
the constant penetration is the biggest problem for the raptors
he's guarding rose , calderon gets outrebounded by noah huge shocker
all our bigs constantly run behind the facts
if it is bosh, amir or reggie the points keep pilling on for the other teams

bargs rebounding is the huge whole in his game ,the rest is the result of a team with no concept of defense